


Just a Kaleidotrope Fanfiction

by leslie_b_flatts



Category: Kaleidotrope (Podcast)
Genre: Aromantic Character, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leslie_b_flatts/pseuds/leslie_b_flatts
Summary: Andi loves attending Sidlesmith, feeling surrounded by magic, love, and stories on all sides. But when she thinks she's found herself in a trope, she turns to the hosts of her favorite radio show for advice... on how to get out of it!
Kudos: 5





	Just a Kaleidotrope Fanfiction

It was a beautiful afternoon at Sidlesmith College, and Andi was bored, and lonely. 

This was typical. Just like every other day since she’d started college, she had nothing to do other than study, and no one to do even that with. She checked her phone and found, as expected, nothing.

She thought of Lu from the party she’d been to that weekend. Why hadn’t they exchanged phone numbers? They had absolutely hit it off, talking for hours until the party had essentially died and Lu’s friend and ride home had reappeared and rushed her out of the door. It wasn’t super cool of him; he’d pretty much ignored Lu the whole time to talk to the girl he was into, and Andi felt sort of cheated out of finishing their conversation, which could have easily lasted another several hours.

Then again, Andi had him and his somewhat-rude habits to thank for meeting Lu. The party had been thrown specifically by and for Film students, which was why Andi had been invited despite not really knowing any of her classmates. She’d gone in an attempt to get to know them, and instead found herself sitting awkwardly on a couch pushed into a corner when Lu had appeared and sat down beside her. Being an engineering student, she didn’t know many people there either.

She was far from shy, though. She was confident and easy to talk to, and brought Andi out of her shell in no time, listening like she was actually interested in what Andi had to say. Andi was equally interested in everything she said. It was easily the best human interaction she’d had in months.

Now she’d have to go track her new friend down, maybe finding one of the classes Lu had mentioned taking or going to the library at the right time, or finding that guy who had brought her to the party and asking him. A lot of work to connect with someone she’d met only once, but Andi was, as mentioned, lonely and bad at meeting people, and it sounded worth it.

It had been two days since they’d met, and she still hadn’t come into contact with her. She wondered if Lu was looking for her, too.

Andi started at the thought. Maybe she was overthinking, but this didn’t just sound like the start of a friendship. It sounded like a trope.

She thought it through like one: they had met at a party where neither of them knew anyone, and been left to search and pine for one another without any reliable way to get in touch. Inevitably, they would run into each other somewhere later and it would be cute, or they’d get so desperate to see one another again that one of them would do something like taking out an ad in the school paper. That was how these things tended to go.

This was awful. She loved romance stories and magic and tropes – they were significant factors in her decision to attend Sidlesmith. Where else would she get such great inspiration for the films she hoped to one day create? But she’d never expected to find herself in one, for one very good reason: she was aromantic.

She couldn’t be in a trope! It was unthinkable. She didn’t want to. Maybe she was wrong. She had no way of knowing if Lu was looking for her – it wouldn’t be the trope if it wasn’t mutual, and Lu had no reason to make it mutual, because Lu actually had friends. She didn’t need to hunt for the random awkward girl who’d talked her ear off at some party. And there was no way Lu was falling in love with her…right?

Andi checked her phone again, not expecting anything, and finding only the time, which startled her. It was later than she had expected. Kaleidotrope was starting. 

She turned her radio on, and smiled. She loved this show. At least she had Drew and Harrison to keep her company and distract her from these worrisome thoughts – or rather, Drew and Viv, Harrison’s DJ name of the night, short for Vivaldi.

“Hello Fluffers,” Harrison/Viv said, kicking off the text-in portion of the evening. Drew groaned.

And Andi smiled. She loved this show. It felt like really being a part of the school, getting to know the student body a little piece at a time through their problems and Drew and Harrison’s advice, without having to actually talk to anyone.

Harrison gave out their numbers, encouraging listeners to text in. Almost immediately, the unmistakable sound of his phone’s text alert rang out. Ding!

“Our first text of the show!” Harrison/Viv sounded delighted. “It’s from a listener called Lucky. Lucky says, ‘Hi Drew and Viv, I’ve never listened to your show before, but I met someone this weekend who always does, and I’m trying to get back in touch with her. I’d rather not give out any sort of contact info over the air, though. I guess I can say that her name is Andi. Is there anything you guys can think of that could help?’”

Oh, no. No, no, no no no no no no no.

That all but confirmed it. Assuming Lucky was Luciana – and who else could it be? – if she was looking for Andi, it was the trope. Even if it wasn’t a trope, per sé, why would she be looking for Andi if she wasn’t interested in her in that sort of romantic way? 

Harrison and Drew were discussing the various ways Lucky might contact Andi without giving up too much personal information over the airwaves. Andi couldn’t pay attention. All at once, the tropes she’d found beautiful and magical were falling into a whole new light.

This was a horrifying twist. If a Sidlesmith trope could pull in Andi, she who was probably the last person on campus to want to fall in love, how many other people might have gotten sucked in by the magic into relationships that just happened to fit a trope, regardless of interest or chemistry on the behalf of the participants? Sidlesmith was known for giving everyone happy endings. They certainly looked happy from the outside. But if this could happen to her…how many others might it happen to? Maybe magic, and societal pressure to accept the supposed good fortune handed to you by the tropes, had trapped dozens, hundreds of people into relationships! She knew that she already didn’t know how she’d bring herself to openly defy the trope, or how she would manage to do so without hurting Lu.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t a trope. Just because it felt like one, didn’t mean – 

Ding! That was Harrison’s phone.

“Lucky has their solution! They say: ‘Hey Andi, if you’re hearing this, want to meet up with me at the library tomorrow around three?’”

She did. That was the problem. She absolutely did.

“Andi, if you’re listening,” Drew said, “text in and tell us and Lucky if you’ll be meeting her or not.”

Andi let some time pass as she mulled over what to do. She was barely aware of the radio playing, as Harrison and Drew bickered and flirted over the advice they were giving to other listeners. Then she picked up her phone, and sent a text to Drew.

Ding!

“Oh, we’ve got a new listener texting in. This is from Andromeda: ‘Hello Drew and Viv, I want your opinion on something. I met a girl at a party recently. I didn’t know anyone else there, and her friend was busy all night, so we spent the whole time talking to each other. Is this a trope?”

“Yes! Congratulations!” Harrison enthused. “That is absolutely a trope.”

“Really? When and where else has that ever happened?” Drew asked.

“Well, aside from how romantic the concept of spending an entire party talking to just one person is, I know of someone who met their actual fiancée that way, so. And! – and, in Little Women, that’s how Jo met Laurie.”

“Jo and Laurie never got together.”

“But they should have!”

Ding!

“That’s another text from Andromeda – ‘You don’t understand. I don’t want it to be a trope, because I don’t want to hurt her.”

“What?” Harrison was confused and appalled. “How could a trope hurt her? It’s a fantastic chance for you both!”

“Andromeda, I think if you want our advice here, you’re going to have to give us a little bit more detail. But I can say that if you’re worried about hurting her, you’ll never go wrong with just talking it out.”

“That’s great advice, Drew. And – ” Ding! “Oh, hold that thought, it’s Lucky. Lucky says, ‘Jo and Laurie were friends, not lovers. Jo was Louisa May Alcott’s self-insert character. Alcott never married and she never wanted Jo to marry either.’”

“They make a good point,” Drew said.

“Still. Even if it was platonic love that bloomed between them, it’s still a trope that results in love. My point stands.” Ding! “It’s Lucky again! ‘Hope I’m not making a huge fool of myself, but on the assumption that Andromeda is long for Andi, I think there’s something you should know: I’m aromantic. I don’t really believe in magic tropes - ’ What do they mean, they don’t believe in tropes?”

“Finish the text, Harrison.”

“Sorry. ‘I don’t really believe in magic tropes, but even if I did, I wouldn’t have assumed we were in one because I don’t expect to ever be in one. I never considered that I might be leading you to some false conclusion about my intent. I just enjoyed your company and thought we could be friends. Is that okay by you?”

“Well! Andromeda-Andi, if Andi you are, you’d better hurry up and respond!”

“Don’t leave us hanging! What did you think Lucky’s intent was?”

Andi couldn’t type fast enough.

Ding!

“Here it is, thank you, Andromeda. She says: Lucky, I’ll see you at the library.”

“Andromeda! Come on, that doesn’t answer my question!”

“It does answer Lucky’s question, though.”

“They can’t just leave us hanging like this,” Harrison protested. “I want the full picture, you two! Please? Pretty please?”

Ding!

“Andromeda has heard your pleading and graced us with another text. ‘I was worried it was a trope because I’m aromantic too. I love the tropes and the magic, but I don’t want to be in one because I don’t want a romantic relationship. I really enjoyed talking to Lucky and have been trying to figure out how to find her again, but I was concerned to hear her looking for me because I thought if it was a trope, it meant she would fall in love with me, and I didn’t want to hurt her or fake a relationship. But we’re all good now.’”

“Ah-ha! It’s like I was saying with Jo and Laurie!”

“You said they were in love.”

“Well, I thought they should have been. But what I said after. Tropes come in all different forms. The Sidlesmith magic is all about causing tropes that cause love. Romantic or platonic.”

“That’s good news for Andi and Lucky then. Glad you two found each other.”

“Have fun tomorrow, you two!”

Ding! It was Harrison’s phone. Andi braced herself for another text from Lu.

“I just got a text message from our old friend Lovejoy! With some updates on Stanwick and Khaleesi!”

Andi breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing to worry about, then. Not until tomorrow at three, at least. And there would nothing to worry about then, either, because it was just Lu, and they were just friends.

Just. What a comforting word. It didn’t do the concepts of either Lu or friendship justice, but Andi felt safe and happy with it, and that was just what she wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> So! I actually just started relistening to Kaleidotrope the other day, it's been...I'm genuinely not sure if its been one year or two since the first time I listened to it, I'd have to check and see when I posted this story to my tumblr. I wrote this story I think around episode 5 of the show? So you can assume its set around then. It was inspired by that one line Harrison has in the first or second episode where he says something about people finding platonic love at Sidlesmith. I was wondering what that might look like, and what it might look like to be aro in a place like that.


End file.
